STAMFORD -- In terms of motivational tools, revenge is one of the best. Too bad for Greens Farms Academy Thursday that King School had one just as good, if not better.

The two FAA schools met Thursday for the first time since heavily-favored GFA was stunned by King in last season's FAA playoff opener. So, the revenge factor was obvious for the league-leading Dragons. The host Vikings, however, also had some serious incentive.

"We wanted to show that last year was not a fluke," said King guard Drew Sawyer after King's almost equally surprising 65-57 victory Thursday. "The team really met the challenge."

Led by Sawyer's 33 points, King (8-4, 3-2 FAA) handed GFA (6-2, 3-1) its first league loss.

"Nobody goes undefeated in this league," GFA coach Doug Scott said. "But the key was we couldn't make a shot. And that Sawyer, he's just brilliant."

Sawyer was brilliant last February, too, when he scored 31 points to fuel the seventh-seeded Vikings upset of the No. 2 Dragons 64-62 in the FAA quarterfinals. GFA was 18-5 last season (11-3 FAA) while King was 8-15, 3-12. This season the teams are a bit closer in ability this season, but the result was still a surprise.

"GFA is awesome, the best team in the league, and sometimes talent can just take over," King coach Greg Dobbs said. "But I knew my boys were ready. We really executed the game plan on defense."

Not many teams can do that against GFA, a team that features a prolific scorer in Hunter Eggers (22.3 points per game), as well as Rice University-bound Sean Obi (18 ppg, 15.3 rebounds). And then there is Pat Ryan (14 ppg), Zach Baines (7 rpg) and point guard Matt Tate, who leads the FAA in assists and steals.

"Obi is a beast," Scott said. "But we saw two great players out there tonight."

Indeed, there was no denying Sawyer.

"My dad always said that when you play a real tough team you have to show them who you are," Sawyer said.

Connor Harris added 16 points for King and Guilbert Francois (nine rebounds, four blocks) did a good job against Obi, adding two big hoops with King nursing a six-point lead in the final three minutes.

King took an 11-2 lead as GFA missed 15 of its first 16 field goal attempts. And after the Dragons tied it at 11, the Vikings went up 14 before settling for a 31-20 halftime lead.

In the second half, GFA got within one. But led by Sawyer and Francois, the Vikings showed they had more to prove on this night.

GFA was 24 for 78 from the field while King made 23 of 53 shots. GFA, which outrebounded the Vikings 48-27, had 18 turnovers and forced 15.